Whether dating or hiring, finding the perfect match is the ultimate goal, and that’s not easy. As Richard Branson said, it takes a whole lot of time, effort, the right questions, and a healthy dose of curiosity to recruit talent.
This is where the recruitment funnel comes into the picture. A recruitment or hiring funnel helps streamline the hiring process and ensures your recruitment process is successfully attracting potential candidates.
In this blog, we’ll learn about the recruitment funnel and how to optimize your recruitment funnel with metrics.
What is a Recruitment Funnel?
A recruitment funnel is a structure or framework that takes you through your recruitment process from start to finish, narrowing down the broad pool of candidates until you are left with your perfect hires.
A recruitment funnel gets smaller and narrower with each step eliminating candidates that don’t fit the job.
45% of recruiters said they would update their best practices to make the most of their recruitment funnel due to the pandemic.
Here’s what a recruitment funnel looks like and the metrics you need to optimize for effective hiring:
1. Brand Awareness
The first step of the recruiting funnel is brand awareness. Candidates get more excited about an interview opportunity with a company they already know. But when you contact someone and say that you’re calling from Joe’s Office, the candidate is less likely to show his interest in the job instantly.
Most candidates apply or want to apply to well-reputed companies. However, if recruiters call about companies the candidate is unaware of, the employer’s brand reputation may increase. Letting candidates know what you do and why you are a good company to work with can make a massive difference in your hiring. Recruitment marketing plays a crucial role in boosting your employer’s brand awareness.
2. Talent Attraction
Talent attraction is the first narrowing stage of the recruitment funnel. However, you can only attract candidates if you really did well in the brand awareness level. While the hiring funnel starts to get narrow at this stage, you need to keep it as wide as possible to build a talent pipeline.
Job descriptions play a key role in this step. You won’t get applicants if the job post is unclear or the requirements are too steep. Writing job ads clearer and broader will engage more applicants. You can also implement an employee referral scheme to bring candidates into your hiring funnel.
Further, to make your recruitment faster, it’s important to ensure your online application process is not too long and tedious. Studies show that nearly 60% of candidates have exited an application process due to the lengthy procedure.
3. Candidate Screening
This level further narrows down the neck of the recruitment funnel. The screening process includes several layers such as resume screening, phone screening, and recorded video interviews to evaluate and eliminate candidates who aren’t matching the job.
Most recruiters today use an ATS to screen candidates and save time. An applicant tracking system (ATS) streamlines the process and automates most lengthy and mundane tasks. Automating candidate screening is an effective way to optimize your recruitment funnel.
4. Interviews
Candidates who went through the screening will go through the interviewing process. The traditional practice of conducting an in-person interview with the hiring panel or manager is now replaced with Zoom, Team and other video conferencing interviews.
To optimize this level of the funnel and keep candidates throughout the process, you need to cut short the number of interview rounds.
This is one of the last steps of the recruiting funnel, and by the end of this step, you will need to have one or two right candidates. Hence, irrespective of how many interview rounds you are conducting, the hiring manager should decide which candidates suit the best and which would be an alternate candidate.
5. Background Verification
A background check is one of the critical steps in the recruitment process. Running criminal checks and checking with the former managers about the candidates’ employment is a part of BGV.
Some companies conduct background checks first, and some offer jobs first. In both ways, it is essential to verify if the information the candidate provided on the resume is accurate or not. Although a background check is vital, you will lose the candidates if it takes three weeks.
6. Job Offer
This is a tentative step in the hiring funnel. Candidates take the driver’s seat at this level. After they get selected, it’s their choice to accept, reject or negotiate the offer. Therefore, you need to be straightforward about salary, work culture, or whether the position is remote, hybrid, or on-site.
However, the funnel is not over yet, even if you have discussed the above metrics. There is one more step.
7. Onboarding
After the candidate accepts the offer, they are ready to be onboarded. However, it is still uncertain whether they show up for work or not. Employee ghosting and quitting with notice before 90 days is quite a common challenge that recruiters face.
To avoid such a situation, check if you’ve made any false promises about what to expect or if your salaries are competitive. Recently, companies are facing high turnover rates like never before. To aim for a good employee turnover, make the suitable hires that match perfectly to your company and deliver your promises on time.
Measure & Optimize the Recruiting Funnel
These are steps in a recruitment funnel and metrics you need to improve to hire more quality employees. Create a recruitment funnel and optimize it using the above metrics to build a pipeline of the best candidates.
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